Marijuana “Academy” Set to Open in South Seattle

By
Curtis Cartier, Seattle Weekly
on September 6, 2011

Move over, Oaksterdam. Seattle’s about to get its very own cannabis university too.

The Academy of Cannabis Culture and Technology is set to open at an undisclosed location in South Seattle on Sept. 7, and the school’s co-founder tells Seattle Weekly that classes will cover everything from marijuana laws to history, cultivation, and grow-room construction.

“The governor decided to say that we can’t have safe access points [read: dispensaries], and basically that everyone should be growing their own [cannabis],” says Jason Semer, ACCT co-founder and owner of THClist.com. “So they’re forcing people to grow their own medicine. So we thought, let’s teach them to do it properly.”

The first class that students take at ACCT is one on the laws surrounding cannabis. Seattle Attorney Kurt Boehl, one of the premier marijuana-rights-and-reform lawyers in the state, will teach the class, which folks can take for a measly $50.

Semer says he’s not concerned that the very laws Boehl will be teaching could be changing drastically soon. “Am I afraid that the laws will change? The laws will change, and I’m going to help them change, but you’re not going to put the genie back in the bottle,” says Semer. “You can’t take away people’s knowledge.”

Other classes covering growing, cloning, electrical and ventilation design, and cannabis cooking are also available, and will cost around $250 each.

Upon graduation, students will get a “Green Thumb Certificate” that may not help them get any jobs, but will signify that they know how to not burn their house down when setting up an electrical indoor grow room.

“If your grandmother was sick and was forced to grow her own heart medication, wouldn’t you want her to know how?” asks Semer. “We want to help medical-cannabis patients help themselves.”